Prevalence of upper respiratory symptoms in patients with symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease

This study evaluated the prevalence of upper respiratory symptoms (URS) amo ng patients with symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Sevent y-four subjects with heartburn completed a URS questionnaire before dual-pr obe, 24-h esophageal pH monitoring. The URS questionnaire was also complete d by 74 normal volunteers without previous or current symptoms of GERD. Eso phageal pH monitoring results were classified as normal, distal, or proxima l and distal gastroesophageal reflux using standardized criteria. Mean URS scores (+/- SD) were 8.31 +/- 3.98 in the 52 subjects with GERD and 4.57 +/ - 3.57 in the 22 subjects with negative pH probe studies, p = 0.02. Subject s with negative pH probe studies and normal volunteers scored similarly on the URS questionnaire. Reflux episodes/24 h correlated with URS scores, r = 0.47, p = 0.0001. Seventy-five percent of subjects with upper reflux, 68% of subjects with lower reflux, 36% of subjects with normal esophageal pH st udies, and 9% of normal volunteers reported laryngeal symptoms for at least 5 d/mo. Sixty-nine percent of subjects with upper reflux, 50% of subjects with lower reflux, 31% of subjects with normal pH studies, and 14% of norma l volunteers reported nasal symptoms for at least 5 d/mo. URS are frequent among subjects with GERD.